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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28796367">April</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thealmostrhetoricalquestion/pseuds/Thealmostrhetoricalquestion'>Thealmostrhetoricalquestion</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne &amp; Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Antique Shops, F/F, Femslash, First Meetings, Fluff, Humor, Meet-Cute, POV Lily Luna Potter, Post-Hogwarts, Pre-Relationship, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, this is just lily being a complete disaster because of a pretty lady</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:01:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,675</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28796367</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thealmostrhetoricalquestion/pseuds/Thealmostrhetoricalquestion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily had never had much luck with the flirting thing, or the dating thing, or the romantic parts of life in general really. </p><p>It was unlikely, she thought, that the pretty woman was flirting with Lily, a dust-covered girl with a very tired mountain of bright red hair on top of her head, and half a Jammy Dodger in her pocket. Very, very unlikely indeed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lily Luna Potter/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>April</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherofmercury/gifts">motherofmercury</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A gift for motherofmercury, whose enthusiasm for Lily and for femslash in general is always so lovely to see! Thank you for being so uplifting and inspiring! &lt;3</p><p>There's one swear in here, so I rated it T simply not to risk it!! </p><p>I was listening to Rainday Antiques on the Headspace app and it inspired this! I've been meaning to post it for a while. I am also very aware that people don't always like OC's, but listen. It's next gen. I want it to be gay. I have very little options, so I made a lovely lady Squib and that's that! I hope you enjoy! &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Comfort was an old friend, or so they said. Lily had never been sure whether that meant an old friend could bring you comfort, or that comfort felt familiar, like someone who used to know you; thinking about it only made her confused, and she was pretty sure it was all the same thing in the end, once you got right down to it. </p><p>Regardless, Lily defied all versions of the saying by finding some comfort in a new friend instead. </p><p>When the door to Abbot’s Antique’s opened with the slightest of squeaks, a gust of cold evening air rushed through the store. It ruffled the vintage fans hanging overhead like spread-eagled bats. It played with the modest lace bodices of the mannequins guarding the corners of the lamp-lit room. With it came the heady scent of fresh rain. Lily had heard the rain but not paid it much mind, lazily flipping through books and devouring snacks while her spells did all the work. Now it was hard to ignore. </p><p>She stopped the dusting spell as the bell chimed, squinting over the top of the copper pots and kettles laid out on the front desk, each one dented and tarnished, but shining with polish. She also stopped breathing, but that was probably just latent asthma emerging from all the dust the wind stirred about. </p><p>A woman stood, drenched, in the doorway, shaking out her umbrella on the top step. She left the umbrella standing upright just inside the door, then closed it against the whistling wind, wringing her wild, sopping black hair out with one equally soaked hand. Her eyes were dark with mascara that had smudged and run, giving her an expression not unlike a startled panda. Lily had always liked pandas. They were soft and playful, bumbling along and causing gentle chaos wherever they went. She had a calendar pinned to her bedroom wall that had different panda cartoons on each page. </p><p>This woman reminded her of April; a rain-soaked and shivery panda, bundled up in a big coat. All that was missing was a bamboo shoot or two. Lily tried not to stare with little success. The woman’s hair got tangled around her hand, but she shook it free after a few tugs, thin silver rings glinting in the low light of several lamps. </p><p>“I have a rule,” Lily muttered to herself, as the woman stepped further into the store. “The rule is, I don't date women who have the same hair as my dad, or my brother, or anyone in my family, no matter how pretty they are.” Her voice reached a slightly higher pitch as the woman drifted nearer, shining eyes peering curiously at the knick-knacks dotted around. “Why not? Because it’s a guaranteed fucking nightmare, that’s why not.”</p><p>The squeak at the end of her proclamation was a bit much, even for her. </p><p>“Hello?” The woman spoke with a soft accent, rounded at the edges, vowels sanded down. She caught sight of Lily behind the counter, who had her nails halfway through the aged oak surface in an attempt to stay grounded, and smiled a little awkwardly. “Sorry, you looked like you were open, and it started bucketing it down.”</p><p><em>The rule!</em> Lily’s brain screamed, in a desperate bid to smack away her over-eager hormones. <em>Remember the rule! Think of Albus’s mane in the morning! Think of all the drama that follows him like a herd of clumsy baby goats! It’s because of his hair!</em></p><p>“We are definitely open!” Lily cleared her throat horribly loudly, shaking herself out of her stupor. “Sorry, yeah. I mean, we’re open. We stay open twenty-four seven.”</p><p>The woman looked slightly startled, either at Lily’s vigorous first exclamation, her subsequent elephant-ic throat-clearing, or at the lack of closing hours, which puzzled most people, Lily included. She stepped closer to where Lily was still hiding behind the counter, leaving wet boot prints on the floorboards. There were darker patches appearing in her expensive wool coat as the rainwater settled in the fibres. </p><p>“Drying spell?” Lily offered, holding up the duster. </p><p>She stared in horror at her hand for a moment, then hurriedly switched the duster out for her wand, lying next to the brass polish. </p><p>“Let’s try that again,” she said. “I’m good at drying spells, promise.”</p><p>The woman’s face did something strange. Her mouth pinched, and the sweet, unsure look in her eyes turned a little hard and distant. Lily’s heart sank in dismay and she cast about frantically for an apology, but she didn't know what she’d done, so she couldn’t fix it.</p><p>“I’m fine, thank you,” the woman said politely. “I was just hoping to get out of the rain.”</p><p>There was clearly a question there. Or perhaps Lily was just desperate to keep the conversation going, because she put down her wand hurriedly and lurched out from behind the counter. </p><p>“Sorry, yeah, you can stay as long as you like!” </p><p>Lily winced at her own eagerness, but barrelled on, ducking around the woman to lead the way down a corridor off to the left.</p><p>Abbott’s Antiques’ was a treasure trove of items, all packed in a labyrinth of rooms and burrowing passageways. This particular passageway was lined on both sides with stacks of chairs, some wicker and some wooden, some featuring sewn-in cushions and intricate carvings, some missing legs and some with more legs than necessary, but all sharing the faint hue of recently-baked brownies. </p><p>“Am I supposed to follow you?” the woman called. </p><p>“That’s the idea!” Lily called over her shoulder, dodging a silent Grandfather clock at the end of the passageway. “Mind the step—you have no idea how many times I’ve fallen down that, oh, here we go.”</p><p>The room was lower down than the passageway, a half-moon of space with a partially glass roof and creaky wooden floorboards. Rain pattered against the slanted panes, gliding off in sheets. Large cushioned chairs and round tea-tables were set in various corners, and there were plants on one wall of shelves, leather-bound books on another. </p><p>“This is one of the quieter rooms,” Lily said, moving aside for the woman to step down and explore. “I just cleaned, so you should be fine in here. You don't have to stay, but there’s books and stuff, and if you call for Dusty, he’ll bring you tea.”</p><p>“Dusty?” The woman unbuttoned her coat, folding it over one arm and revealing a deep blue blouse. It was done up to the base of her throat, demure, but it hugged the sloping curves of her waist and stomach. Lily felt the urgent need to fidget. </p><p>“A House Elf,” Lily said, in a remarkably steady tone. “He’s really nice, and his biscuits are the best things you’ll ever put in your mouth. He’s been employed here for ages, so he knows the kitchen better than I do. He won’t burn your tea.”</p><p>“There’s a kitchen here?” asked the woman, before she did a double take and stared at Lily. “You can <em>burn</em> tea?”</p><p>Lily shrugged one shoulder. “Not sure about everyone else, but I sure managed.”</p><p>The distant look from before faded into something softer. Amusement was a good look on her, even if it was at Lily’s expense. Her pink cheeks puffed out, and she smiled at Lily sweetly. </p><p>“Sounds like quite an accomplishment then.” </p><p>Circe, that smile was something. Something distracting and befuddling, something that grabbed all Lily’s trains of thought and sent them chugging down unknown tracks, away from her stations. </p><p>“Sure,” Lily said blankly, fumbling for some semblance of sanity. “Uh, right. So, I’ll leave you to it. There’s blankets and stuff, too, and like I said, Hannah keeps the store open all the time, so nobody’s gonna ask you to leave.”</p><p>She ran out of things to say as the woman smoothed her coat out over the back of a chair. Lily started back up the stairs, but a question stopped her in her tracks. </p><p>“And what do I call you?”</p><p>Lily paused beside the Grandfather clock; she thought she could hear it ticking, laughing at her, despite being silent for most of forever. “Sorry?”</p><p>“I know how to call Dusty the House Elf, but not you.” The woman hesitated, then smiled a little. “What if I have some tea that desperately needs burning?”</p><p>Lily’s mind went blank. Was that flirting? She didn't know. She’d not had much luck with the flirting thing, or the dating thing, or the romantic parts of life in general really. It was unlikely, she thought, that the pretty woman was flirting with Lily, a dust-covered girl with a very tired mountain of bright red hair on top of her head, and half a Jammy Dodger in her pocket. Although the woman didn't know about the Jammy Dodger, so that worked in her favour, but Lily suspected she gave off a biscuit-in-the-pocket vibe anyway. </p><p>“Lily,” she said, after she’d wrangled her words into something vaguely resembling English. “Lily Potter.”</p><p>The woman’s eyebrow tipped up slightly, but she gave no other outward reaction, besides another smile.</p><p>“Do I get a name?" Lily asked. "You’ve got a Mary Poppins vibe, but I’m okay with giving that name up if you’ve got one you’re more attached to.”</p><p>The woman laughed, putting her hand over her mouth. It was the sweetest thing Lily had ever seen in her life, and she almost wanted to vanish through the floor rather than deal with such a thing. </p><p>“Emily Swift,” she said eventually. “You’re a funny one, Lily Potter.”</p><p>“I’m a hoot,” Lily said blankly. “I’m here all day. Literally, because my shift doesn’t end until six.”</p><p>The soft chuckle she got in return sent Lily stumbling past heaps of chairs with a dizzying grin of her own in place, leaving her new friend to settle in with a book and a cup of tea. </p><p>Thank fuck, Lily thought, as she settled behind the counter again and stared dreamily out of the rain-soaked windows, for weird opening times and bloody terrible English weather.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is in the same realm as A Coin, A Curse - Lily works in a weird magical antique shop run by Hannah Abbot. She's best friends with Scorpius (but don't let Albus hear them say that). Eventually they go on adventures together because priceless strange artefacts send them travelling to solve puzzles and riddles and break curses. But first Lily falls in love!! </p><p>Also, if it wasn't clear, the little tense moment between them was because Miss Swift is a Squib and takes a very no-nonsense approach to magic - if something can be done without it, she won't stand for people doing it magically for her. But Lily doesn't know that, so! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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